Kirk had previously been tried for throwing a trash can through a window and was institutionalized for two weeks before being sent home. He later pushed an 11-year-old boy on the street in the path of a moving car, which stopped before it could hit him. He was tried for assault and was again institutionalized, and two weeks later, was sent home, where some time later, he mugged Irene Morrissey and stole property from her husband, Harold Morrissey. Harold subsequently struck him with a metal bar savagely in his sleep. Although Kirk survived, he was rendered paralyzed from the waist down.